Burma or Myanmar? What should Obama call it?

FILE - This Dec. 1, 2011 file-pool photo shows Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton touring Shwedegon Pagoda, a Buddhist temple founded between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, in Yangon, Myanmar. President Barack Obama's landmark visit to Myanmar, known by the US as Burma, brings up an unusual problem of protocol: What doe he call it? (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, File, Pool)
— AP

FILE - This Dec. 1, 2011 file-pool photo shows Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton touring Shwedegon Pagoda, a Buddhist temple founded between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, in Yangon, Myanmar. President Barack Obama's landmark visit to Myanmar, known by the US as Burma, brings up an unusual problem of protocol: What doe he call it? (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, File, Pool)
/ AP

WASHINGTON 
President Barack Obama's landmark visit to Myanmar, known by the U.S. as Burma, brings up an unusual problem of protocol: What does he call it?

If recent practice by visiting U.S. officials is any guide, Obama will sidestep the issue by using neither name Monday when he becomes the first sitting American president to visit the country.

The former ruling junta summarily changed the name 23 years ago without consulting the people - a typically high-handed act by an unpopular regime that had gunned down hundreds of anti-government protesters the year before. The change was opposed by democracy advocates, who stuck with "Burma."

As the country has opened up politically, shifting from five decades of direct military rule, the linguistic battle lines have blurred some.

The U.S., Britain, Canada and New Zealand still officially refer it to it as Burma. But as the relations with the reformist government of President Thein Sein have blossomed in past year and dignitaries have beaten a path to his door, they've become less dogmatic about using the old name.

Last December, when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton became the highest-ranking U.S. visitor to Myanmar in 56 years, she mostly referred to it as "this country" and did the same this September when she met Thein Sein in New York and announced easing of sanctions. Visiting U.S. senators have used both names. Even at congressional hearings in Washington, there's an occasional mention of "Myanmar."

"Burma" is something Myanmar officials can get sore about.

"You might think this is a small matter, but the use of `Myanmar' is a matter of national integrity," Foreign Minister Wanna Maung Lwin told visiting U.S. envoy Joseph Yun in May 2011, according to the Myanmar Times newspaper. "Using the correct name of the country shows equality and mutual respect."

This summer, Myanmar authorities also warned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after she used "Burma" during high-profile trips abroad, saying "Republic of the Union of Myanmar" is enshrined in the constitution. She asserted her right to say what she wants but has also said she's open to either name.

"It's for each individual to make his or her own choice as to which he or she uses," the Nobel laureate said in a Washington speech in September that many interpreted as a green light for the U.S. to change its policy.

The truth is that for most Burmese, the name debate doesn't matter.

Myanmar, comprising a vast array of ethnic groups, did not exist as a single entity until it was colonized by the British in the 19th century. The country achieved independence in 1948 and took the English language name used by its former rulers, Burma.

But it was formally known in Burmese, the national language, as "myanma naing ngan" or more colloquially as "bama pyi" or "country of Burma." Both those usages persist, and the national anthem still refers to "bama pyi."

When the name was changed in 1989, it applied only to the English language title.